Caramel-coated apple



July 26, 1960 Original Filed Nov. 16, 1955 H. PIKAL CARAMEL-COATED APPLE2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Y Harry fi/fa/ July 26, 1960 H. PIKAL 2,945,689

CARAMEL-COATED APPLE Original Filed Nov. 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

Z4 35 Z; BY Hoff /D//Y 7/ ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,946,689CARAMEL-COA'I'ED APPLE' Harry Pikal, Bangor, Mich. I Originalapplication N0.v.16, 1955 Ser. No. 547,057,"

now Patent No..2,889,801, dated June19, 1959, Diff .vided and thisapplication Aug. 11,1958, Serf- NQ-f 2 Claims. c1.99--1ss) First, toprovide a new article of edible food and confection in the form of afresh unpreserved apple having its full natural skin imperforate andhaving a thin uniform coating of a confection such as carameldistributed over a substantial portion thereof in an annular fashionabout the core of .the fruit as an'axis.

Second, to provide an apple as described above which further has anannular overcoating of a comminuted confection such as crushed nut meatsadhered to thecaramel undercoating.

has a relatively long shelf life due to its retention of its fullnatural skin as an imperforate protective cover for the meat of thefruit enclosed therewithin.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from aconsideration of the following description and claims. The drawings, ofwhich there are two sheets, illustrate the article of the invention andapparatus for forming the same.

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an according to the presentinvention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a machine for coatingthe apple shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse cross sectional view taken along theplane of the line. 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse cross sectional view taken along theplane of the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Caramel coated apples as an article of food or confection have beenknown heretofore but have universally been sold with the apples onsticks that serve as a handle both in coating and eating the apple.Placing the stick in the apple not only requires considerable effort butit also breaks the skin of the apple that forms a natural protectivecovering for the apple and the coated apples consequently spoil quiterapidly. The present invention provides a machine that effectively coatsthe apples without the use of sticks embedded in the apples and deliversthe coated apples to a wrapper sheet that serves as a convenient andsanitary means for holding the finished confection.

The machine includes a suitable framework supported upon uprights 11 andhaving vertically spaced side rails 2 and 3. The side rails 2 and 3 areduplicated in transversely spaced relation to provide supports forspaced conveyor chain loops 44 having upper and lower horizontal reachesand upright end reaches. Bearing blocks 5 mounted at the ends of theside rails support sprockets 6 over which the chains 4 are trained. Araised framework 7 on one end of the main frame supports a driving motor8 and suitable belts and gearing 9 for simultaneapple coated ouslyrotating the conveyor chains in cated by the arrows in Fig. 2. W Aplurality ofjcarriers generally indicated at 10 are supported betweenthe conveyor chain loops at spaced intervals along the conveyors, Eachcarrier lt) includes a cross gheam 1 1 pivotally supportedat its ends onthe chains4. Depending below the cross. beam 11 are two;

transversely, spaced hanger arms-12 having brackets 13 and 14"at theirlower ends. The brackets 13 and 14 are provided with alignedtransversely extending-bearings 15;

that rotatably receive. chucking: pins 16 and17. The chucking pins 17are axially fixed in their bearings but the pins; 16 :areaxiallyslidable and biased toward the pins '17 by spring 18 bearing against thecollars 19. Rollers 20 on the-outer ends of the pins 16 limit the in:

ward motion of the pins 16, so, that the pins 16 and- 17 are spacedapart by about the length of the smallest apple to be coated. It will beappreciated that the weight of the arms 12 and the apples carriedthereby causes the carriers to hang vertically below the cross beams '11at all times exceptwhen deflected from-the vertical by some outsideforce. The 'chuckingfpins '16 and17 are pointed,

to fit withinthejrecessed-ends of an apple without puncturing' the skinof the apple as is best illustrated in Figs; 3 and- 4. The carriers withapples mounted between the chucking pins move to the left along theupper side rails 2"as illustratedin Fig. 2 and descend along theleftgend of the framework until the .rollers 20 on'the chucking pins 16engage, and are deflected to the right by an;inclined; guide: rail 21. 3The guide rail21 is supported by. a horig v I 1 a zontal, guide rail 22carriedby cross members 23-so that Third, to provide a confection coatedfresh fruit that the arms 12 are inclined downwardly and to the rightand advanced along the lower side rails 3 with the chucking pins and therollers 20 rolling along the guide rail 22. The elevation of the guiderail 22 is fixed so that the lower portions of the apples A depend intoa bath of heated and liquid caramel 24 contained in a dip tank 25. Therolling motion of the chucking pins and the apples causes substantiallythe entire surface of the apples to become coated with the heated liquidconfection. The trailing or right end of the guide rail 22 is inclinedupwardly as at 26 (see Fig. 2) to elevate the apples above the level ofthe liquid confection.

Positioned at the end of the inclined portion 26 of the guide rail is ashort belt loop 27 trained around pulleys 28 to support and drivinglyengage the rollers 20 on the chucking pins. The belt loop. 27 and thepulleys 28 are rapidly rotated by a belt 29 and motor 30 to spin applesand throw off excess liquid confection by centrifugal force. Since theaxis of rotation of the apples is horizontal, liquid is thrown bothdownwardly into the tank 25 and upwardly and for this reason the hangerarms 10 are of substantial length to position the cross beams 11 out ofrange of liquid thrown upwardly. The liquid then falls back into thetank and the parts of the machine do not become coated with wastedcaramel.

After passing the spinning belt 27, the rollers 20 are carried by aguide rail 31 until the apple carried by the chucking pin is over oneside of'the table 32. The table 32 is rotatably driven by gears 33 andmotor 34 in offset relation to the path of the apple so that the applemoves in chordal relation against the rotation of the table. The tableis adapted to support a layer of ground nut meats which are suppliedeither manually or by automatic means not illustrated to apply anovercoating of nut meats to the periphery of the caramel coated apple asindicated at 35 in Fig. 3. It is essential that the nut meats be appliedto the caramel coating before the caramel has cooled and while it isstill soft and sticky so it is desirable to locate the table 32 in closeproximity to the spinning belt 27. After 'the nut meat coating isapplied a guide rail 36 the direction indipicks up the rollers 20 andelevates the apple as it moves 7 spring 18 andnormally assumes theposition illustrated in Fig. 4. As the stops or collars 37 On therollers 20 approach the right end of the framework they move along theoutside of a retractor plate or release member 40 carried by the pistn41of a pneumatic cylinder 42 At the same time the latch' iafi movesunder-a depressing spring 4 3 that acts as'a held down means anddepresses the latch into sliding engagement with the top of the collaror stop 37. A switch 44-tripped by the following carrier 10 actuates anelectromagneticyalve 45 to actuate the cylinder 42 and retract thepiston 41 and plate or release member 40 so that the collar 37 is movedoutwardly and the latch 38 is pressed downwardly till its notch 39 locksagainst the edge of the collar 37 as illustrated in Fig. 3. Thisautomatically retracts the chucking pin 16 and the coated apple fallsinto a notch in the receiving block 4 6. A piece of wax paper 47 placedover the receiving block prior to delivering of the apple will befoldedupwardly as shown in Fig. 3 to form a convenient wrapper for the coatedapple so that it can be handled and packed without touching the stickycoating.

The pressure of the spring 18 on the chucking pin 16 is sufiicient tohold the latch 38 engaged with the collar 37 as the carrier movesupwardly along the right end of the framework. The chucking pins 16 and17 are there-. fore held in widely spaced relation and it is a simplematter for the operator to press a new apple between the pins as theconveyor is advanced. A slight push on the chucking pin 16 releases thelatch 38 which then moves upwardly and the chucking pin 16 thenautomatically moves the apple against the opposing pin 17.

The coated apple A as the new product is shown in Fig. 1 wherein thecaramel coating appears at 48 extending almost to the ends of the appleand the annular coating of nut 'meats or other comminuted confectionappears as 35. .Due to the complete imperforate charac ter of the skinof the apple and also due to the rapidity with which theht caramelisapplied to the apple and eigcess caramel thrqwnloff, the skincontinues to act as the natural prese'rving cover for the meat of theapple and the coated apples have a long shelf life of from six to eightweeks. i

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desiredto secure by Letters Patent is:

l 1. As lan edible confection article, a fresh apple with its fullnatural skin imperforate and having an annular bandof caramelconfectionadhered to its surface completely aroundthe apple with thecore of the apple as the axis of the band and with an overcoated layerof a comminutcd confection embedded in the layer of caramel.

2. As an.edible confection article, a fresh apple with its full naturalskin imperforate and having an annular hand of caramel confection.adhered to. its surface completely aroundthe apple with the core of theapple as the axis of the band.

Cloud July 24, 1923 Canfield June 26, 1951

1. AS EDIBLE CONFECTION ARTICLE, A FRESH APPLE WITH ITS FULL NATURALSKIN IMPERFORATE AND HAVING AN ANNULAR BAND OF CARAMEL CONFECTIONADHERED TO ITS SURFACE COMPLETELY AROUND THE APPLE WITH THE CORE OF THEAPPLE AS THE AXIS OF THE BAND AND WITH AN OVERCOATED LAYER OF ACOMMINUTED CONFECTION EMBEDDED IN THE LAYER OF CARAMEL.